Puppy Love? No, Ninken Love?
by Toni Toni Choppaa-kun
Summary: A certain silver-haired jounin needs someone to take care of certain ninken while he's away on a mission. Naruto, tasked with the duty of finding such a person ends up begging Iruka to please take in the 8 energetic ninken. A hapless Iruka agrees, and when Kakashi's ninken develop a strong fondness for the sensei, they begin to hatch a plan for the mating of Iruka and Kakashi...
1. Chapter 1

Prologue-ish thingy!

A thin, lanky man with lopsided silvery-gray hair strolled up to the Konoha Bridge as leaves colored in hues of red orange and yellow fluttered down from the trees to greet him. A black mask and Konoha hitai-ate covering up most of his face, obscuring much of his facial expressions from view. Even so, an extremely easygoing attitude was given off by a lazy slouch, a slow, carefree stride, and a bright orange book shielding his already covered face. He glanced up from the pages of the small book to see a blond-haired-blue-eyed ball of insanity clad in bright orange and blue sitting on the bridge.

"OI! KAKASHI-SENSEI!" He called out rather obnoxiously as the said sensei let out a long sigh. "Why am I here?" he asked curiously as Kakashi drew nearer.

The thin man slowly brought two fingers up to his forehead in a mock-salute and said, "Yo, Naruto," ignoring the kid's question altogether.

Unperturbed and completely used to these kinds of responses, Naruto asked once more. "Why am I here?"

"Maa, Naruto, I asked you to come, didn't I?" Kakashi said, scratching his silver-haired head with the hand not holding his beloved, ahem, "adult" book. Naruto frowned at him.

"Well, whatever. Why were you like an hour late?" Naruto had figured Kakashi would be late, and so he had waited sitting on the bridge railing for the better part of an hour. It was almost as boring as being at the Academy again. Almost.

"Well, Naruto, you see there was this kind elderly little woman that needed help crossing the street in front of the vegetable stand—it's quite a busy street, you know. As I was helping her with her bags, a group of enemy Nin swooped in and tried to take her gro—"

"Ok, ok, yeah, you were being a good citizen that's great. So why did you ask me to come here?" Naruto pressed, still curious as to why he was at the bridge and even more importantly, why he was at the bridge alone.

"Oh yes," Kakashi drawled lazily. "That. Well I am going on an extensive mission—no I can't tell you what the mission is, it's top secret—and unfortunately, the Ninja Summons facilities are being renovated."

"What does that mean?"

Kakashi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It means that all the Ninja in Konoha that have summons have to find a place for their summons to stay while the facilities are being renovated. Why they must do it now, I have no clue, but—"Naruto cut him off almost immediately.

"WAIT A SECOND! Does that mean that I have to find someplace to put GAMABUNTA?" He asked incredulously. "That guy's HUGE! HUGE!"

"No, no, no. Gamabunta is a, erm, special case. He doesn't live at those facilities. Neither does Katsuyu or, I suppose, Manda. BUT," Kakashi grimaced underneath the black fabric over his mouth. "This means I have to find a place for my ninken to stay while I am on the mission." He suddenly smiled almost evilly, his one visible eye curling upward.

Naruto scrambled away quickly with a near-terrified expression adorning his usually cheerfully obnoxious features. "Oh no Kakashi-sensei, I am NOT taking in eight rabid dogs!"

"Maa, Naruto, they aren't RABID, just a bit 'energetic', shall we say." Kakashi speedily formed the hand signals for the summoning jutsu, and within the blink of an eye, he had slit open the palm of his hand, pressed it onto the ground, and had summoned eight dogs wagging their tales happily. Well, maybe except for Pakkun.

"AAAAHH!" Naruto screeched. "NOOOOO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Too late, he realized Kakashi was already walking away, his hand raised in a jaunty wave as he departed with his nose already buried in his Icha Icha.

"Now I am trusting you to either take care of them like it's a mission, or find someone else to do it." And with a swirl of leaves and wind, he was gone.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Naruto cried out. Now he was stuck with eight dogs that would most likely eventually tear him limb from limb if he stayed with them any longer. _"Within 5 minutes I'd probably be strung up on a tree in pieces or barbecued over a fire for their dinner," _he thought with a barely suppressed shiver. He definitely didn't want to be ripped up into meat chunks by little canine teeth. Going with his strong sense of self-preservation, he sprinted across town to the one person he knew that could just possibly be his savior. And of course, as the good ninken they were, Kakashi's summons ran after the blur of terrified orange and blue, excited to have something interesting to chase.

* * *

Iruka woke up to the sound of knocking on his door rather forcefully. He blearily opened his eyes and yawned loudly. It was his day off, and he had hoped to sleep at least 10 hours. However, he could tell that would not be the case today. The only person in Konoha that knocked, or rather, banged on his door so loudly was a certain obnoxious blonde shinobi who loved ramen more than life itself. Nonetheless, Iruka groaned as he almost fell out of his bed most un-shinobi like and headed for the door to his apartment. Scratching his head absentmindedly, he opened the door only to find eight dogs dressed in _henohenomoheji_-decorated vests and an out-of-breath Naruto.

"Oh, Naruto, what have you gone and done this time?"

* * *

Hi so this is my second fic! YAY ME! I really am not altogether sure how I want to go about writing this, so I am totally open to any suggestions (that is, if I get any...)

I really can't make any lemons, as I said, I started doing this about 2 days ago... But, again, if there is a wonderfully kind person out there willing to help me out, I would be eternally grateful! (wow, I am really begging now, aren't I? Oh well...)

I hope you liked it! I'm honestly not expecting any reviews, but I just am hoping that someone will be so bored they might actually read this! So ya!

Love,

チョッパーくん


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2…

SO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE SOONER! I promised myself I would update consistently, but life kinda got in the way (I know, I know, lame excuse, but it's pretty true.) Again, I'M SO SO SO SORRY. So anyhoo...

Enjoy? Maybe?

* * *

Iruka frowned slightly as he listened to Naruto rant about how mean "Bakashi-sensei" is and how rabid the ninken are over some tea.

"…And the he just left me with those terrible, ferocious, scary, insane, horrible dogs! He just LEFT ME with EIGHT of his rabid DOGS! He just WALKED AWAY reading his gross Icha Icha and then 'poof!' He was GONE! And he LEFT ME with EIGHT of his rabid DOGS!" an outraged Naruto exclaimed loudly for what seemed like the tenth time.

Iruka remained quiet as he slowly sipped his tea, elbows leaning on the table and still in his bright orange blue shuriken-decorated pajamas. For the record, he had got them from Naruto for Christmas. As Naruto continued to complain about just about anything and everything that came to mind, Iruka absent-mindedly wondered why he was really here. Surely he had not come for the sole purpose of ranting to his heart's content. Intent on finding out, he stopped Naruto from continuing on about how mean Sakura is with a soft clearing of his throat.

"Naruto," he said. "Why is it you are here with Hatake-san's ninken? From my understanding, it's your job to take care of them, no?" Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well, you see…" he trailed off uncertainly. "The thing is… well…"

"'Well' what?" Iruka pressed.

"What I'm trying to say is," Naruto started. "Umm, _couldyoupleaselookafterthedo gsuntilhegetsback_?" Iruka frowned. What in the world was the boy saying?

"Excuse me, what?"

Naruto began to sweat as words tumbled out of his mouth. "Well you see he told me I had to take care of them or at least find someone else to do it and I really don't want to do it plus the last time I had to dog-sit them Pakkun thought it would be funny to put beef jerky in my shuriken holster and it was teriyaki-flavored which is Bull's favorite and he basically tried to rip my leg off and I didn't know why until my holster tore off while I was running away from him and—" He was soon cut off by Iruka's rather loud melodic laughter that floated about the room like a cloud.

Naruto pouted. "What're _you _laughing at? You probably wouldn't be laughing if _you _were the one running across town with a drooling Bull chasing you and Pakkun sitting on top of him laughing his head off!" He pointedly glared at Pakkun, who was currently scratching himself on the floor in front of Iruka's kitchen table. He had to chuckle when he saw that Pakkun was purposefully ignoring the heated looks sent his way as Naruto gave up and began to pout again.

Remembering himself, Iruka came back to the matter at hand: exactly what to do with 8 energetic ninken. Nonetheless, he knew he would probably end up having to feed 8 more mouths than usual within 5 minutes. He knew he had quite the soft spot for the boy, and normally agreed to just about anything Naruto wanted; even if it meant leaving Ichiraku's with a considerably lighter wallet. Iruka sighed. _"Well, there's no use avoiding the inevitable," _he thought to himself wryly. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and looked back up at the still pouting blond shinobi.

"Ok Naruto," he sighed.

Naruto stared back questioningly, obvious confusion etched across his face. "What?"

"I will take care of them until Hatake-san comes back, ok?" Iruka said gently. He smiled seeing a look of relief swept across Naruto's features and let out a small chuckle as the boy bounded out of his seat at the table to hug his old teacher tightly.

"Oh THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH IRUKA-SENSEI THANK YOU!" the previously distressed boy exclaimed, now overjoyed at the prospect of being free from looking after Kakashi's dogs. Iruka was happy to see that the huge, blinding grin that occupied Naruto's face nearly 24/7 was back once more along with his infectious laughter and boisterous personality. Nonetheless, the teacher in Iruka told him that Naruto should not be allowed to walk away scot-free. Otherwise, he would never learn, and he would end up juggling all of Naruto's responsibilities simply because he was asked by the boy.

"Naruto," he said sternly. "You don't suppose you can dump all the work of caring for eight dogs on me and walk away, do you?" Naruto gulped visibly. _"I should've known Iruka-sensei would want something in return…" he scowled internally._

"Well, I'm feeling relatively generous today, so I won't punish you a great deal or anything." He smirked. Even so, Naruto would learn not to come crying to him all the time. "But, for the next few times we go out for ramen at Ichiraku's, YOU are paying for me, understand?"

"But—but—but—"

"NO BUTS!"

"I'll be broke within days!" Naruto wailed. "Gama-chan barely has anything in him!"

"Well, just take some extra missions, Naruto. You can handle _that _much at least."

"WAAAAHH!" a devastated Naruto bawled.

* * *

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He looked at his now extremely cluttered and disgusting kitchen where he had tried to figure out what sort of dinner he should make for a number of dogs, or rather, ninken. Well, asking eight apparently very hungry ninken what they would like to eat was a mistake he would never make again in his life. Every single dog had reacted to his innocent question exactly the same way: rummaging through his kitchen to see what he had and if they could find anything they liked. _"Well, I guess I needed to clean my kitchen anyways,"_ he thought. _"At least now I have even greater reason to do so."_

Apparently within the short span of time he had been in the bathroom, many different things had occurred all around his apartment. Shiba seemed to have been digging in the garbage can where he located an old Ben & Jerry's container and was now walking around with it stuck over his muzzle. The container obscuring his vision, he stumbled around blindly, crashing into walls and other objects. Meanwhile, Uhei had fallen into Iruka's laundry hamper and decided that sleeping in his clean laundry would be an enjoyable way to spend the early afternoon. Even so, he had a strong feeling that Uhei was probably the most civilized dog in the apartment. Gently he nudged the reddish-brown greyhound that was snoring peacefully.

"Hey," he prodded. "It's Uhei, right?" he asked, crouching down so they could see eye to eye. Iruka had learned in the past that kids and most likely ninken liked to feel on the same level. The bandaged ninken blearily blinked open one eye and yawned.

"Hn?" Uhei said. "Yeah, my name's Uhei, why?"

"Would you happen to know where the rest of your pack is?"

"Uumm," he said groggily. "I think Pakkun, Bull, and Akino are in that big room with the big bed…" Iruka frowned slightly. He hoped they hadn't torn apart his bedroom, but then again, they probably did that and then some. Sighing, he stood back up and made his way to the disaster zone.

Thoroughly anticipating something along the lines of an earthquake or tsunami, he thrust the door open with a bang. Unfortunately, he was almost correct. Bull seemed to be running around chasing Akio, who seemed to have lost his sunglasses somehow. A near-cackling Pakkun rode atop Bull's head, taking pleasure out of the joy ride provided by the much bigger dog bounding about the room. The huge spikes on Bull's collar snagged clothes out of Iruka's closet, which in turn, caught objects around the room and threw them out of place. Iruka winced as a sweater snagged on one of the spikes got caught on his cactus plant and crashed it into the wall as Bull rounded the corner of the bed. Akino stumbled about, banging into things in the room like the dresser, the nightstand, and even the bed itself. _"I wonder if he needs those sunglasses _that_ badly…" _Iruka mused to himself. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he began to wonder how to stop them from violently destroying his room any more than they already have.

Quietly he made his way over to his dresser, where his shuriken holster was located. He pulled out his set of wire strings and deftly wrapped a few ends around his fingers. Quickly he calculated when Bull would be within reach and soon had Bull trapped in numerous shining strands of wire. Akino, still running in a circle around and under the bed, eventually rammed himself into Bull's now unmoving back. Pakkun snickered quietly as Akino groaned in pain. Iruka tapped his foot impatiently, his teacher instincts taking over for the time being. Finally, the dogs got over their discomfort enough to see a rather peeved Iruka standing in front of them.

"Well you three seem to have been having quite a lot of fun in here," Iruka started dangerously. "Now what in God's name was going on here?" Sensing Iruka's growing anger, all three dogs replied frantically.

"Pakkun somehow convinced Bull that—"

"Well you see, I thought it might be entertaining to—"

"Arf, aaarfff… Woof ruff ruff arf—"

"And then I realized my sunglasses were gone and then—"

"So then he swallowed those glasses—"

Everyone looked at Bull.

"HE WHAT?" they all yelled. Bull looked back, almost as confused as everyone else.

Pakkun smiled apologetically. "The thing is… I kind of may have told Bull that Akino had teriyaki beef jerky, and that one strategy to get some was to take his sunglasses…" Everyone in the room pointedly stared at the tiny pug.

Pakkun rushed to defend himself. "But I NEVER told him to EAT them!" he protested. "It's not MY fault that Bull tends to get just about ANYTHING inside that huge mouth of his!" Bull whined softly, his large head now facing the ground in what seemed to be shame. Iruka felt a tug at his heartstrings and the urge to pet the sweet, jolly giant of a dog, but had to remind himself that ninken did not like feeling any less superior than humans.

"Pakkun, that was not very nice of you to say that," he scolded gently. He then turned to Bull. "I know you meant well, and that you didn't intend to eat Akino's sunglasses, but you need to apologize too, ok?" He heard Bull let out another soft whine to Akino, and Pakkun mumble a small "sorry" before petting the top of Bull's head with his paw.

Iruka then turned towards Akino, who was nursing a huge bump on his forehead with his paw. "Oh, Akino, are you alright?" he worried. "Let's get you some ice for that, shall we? And how about I buy you a new pair of sunglasses tomorrow morning when I go grocery shopping. Do you think you'll survive until then?" Akino nodded, and let out a pitiful moan as he rubbed his slowly purpling bruise. Iruka bent over to pick the tan dog up so he wouldn't have to stumble around the house anymore before stopping himself.

"Umm," he started. "Is it ok for me to pick you up and take you to the kitchen for some ice?" The polite dog nodded. Iruka lifted him into his arms and carried him to the refrigerator, and kicked open the freezer door with his foot. Holding Akino in one arm and juggling an ice pack in the other, he gently set him down. He quickly grabbed a roll of bandages from a drawer and strapped the ice pack to the ninken's forehead. Bull stifled a yawn behind him, making Pakkun jump in surprise.

"Oh, are you tired?" Iruka asked. He glanced at the window to see it was getting quite dark outside. "I suppose it _is _time for bed soon." Standing back up, he wondered where the other three ninken were and exactly what they were up to. Nonetheless, he turned back to the matter at hand.

"Ok then, well if you're tired, you should follow me." He said, leading the way to a bright orange and blue room at the end of the hall. All three dogs blinked.

"Who in God's name decided to paint this room such awful colors?" Pakkun cried incredulously. Half the walls were orange and the other half was blue, while Konoha shinobi symbols adorned also bright orange bed sheets that covered the large bed.

"This is Naruto's room for when he stays over occasionally," Iruka replied sheepishly. "I let him decorate the room however he liked, and… well… This happened." He finished. Pakkun snickered.

As the ninken trio scoped out the loud, boisterously colored room, a quiet munching sound could be heard from what seemed to be under the bed. Iruka frowned. He would bet quite a lot of money that another ninken was hiding beneath the mattress and the Konoha-symbol covers. Silently he crept up to the bed and quickly swept up the covers in one hand to find—

Guruko eating Naruto's "secret" stash of instant ramen he hid under his bed for emergencies. Dozens of Styrofoam bowls littered the floor, the plastic wrapping they originally came in now slashed to shreds. Iruka sighed. Slowly Guruko looked up at the exasperated chuunin with the dog version of an "oh-crap-I-got-caught-with-my-paw-in-the-cookie-jar" expression on his face. Crunched pieces of dried noodle fell out of the little dog's mouth.

"I guess you like ramen too, don't you?" Iruka said, now completely past the point of anger. "Well, I'll clean this up. Now you four should make yourselves comfortable here, because this will be where you'll be staying until Hatake-san comes back, ok?" Three of them nodded as Bull went ahead and belly-flopped on to the bed with a crash. Pakkun snuggled in by Bull's stomach, while Guruko and Akino curled up on Naruto's two blue pillows. Iruka had to cover his mouth to keep himself from "awww"-ing, and left to get a broom and dust pan to clean up the ramen mess.

On the way to the hall closet, he saw Urushi staring down the neighborhood black cat, who was sitting on the open windowsill. Neither one moved a muscle or even blinked until the cat hopped down and began rubbing itself against the light-brown dog, purring contentedly. Iruka could almost sense Urushi's face slowly turning red just like one of his Pre-Genin students would when hugged by a girl. He turned and walked away, chuckling softly.

By the time he got back to Naruto's, or rather, the ninken's room, Uhei, Bisuke, Urushi, and Shiba were sleeping alongside the other four on the bed together. He felt his heart warm at the sight of Pakkun curled up on Bull's back and Uhei and Urushi sleeping at the foot of the bed with Bull's hind legs by their heads. Iruka couldn't help but chuckle seeing every single dog curled up and comfy, sleeping together like the most adorable mismatched dog pack you'd ever see in your life. He flicked off the lights, whispering good night before heading to bed himself.

* * *

Thunder crashed. Rain pelted the earth in an unrelenting rhythm. Lightning flashed and split the heavens into two like a huge crack in the sky that was gone in an instant. The storm raged above Konoha in a rampage of nature's epic proportions. Iruka groaned, rolling over from one side to the other. He couldn't sleep with the sound of the thunder echoing around his pounding head. Even as a brave Konoha shinobi, he still hated thunderstorms just as much as he did as a child. Nonetheless, he gave in to the fact that he would have to bear with the storm as much as possible.

Suddenly a huge something came barreling in through his bedroom door and pounced on top of the bed—and Iruka. "Oof!" he cried out. The huge black face of a certain bulldog loomed into Iruka's bleary vision. Bull looked panicked and afraid.

"Oh hi Bull," Iruka said weakly. "Are you scared of the thunderstorm too?"

Bull nodded. Iruka supposed he'd been around humans so much that he must have eventually become able to understand "humans". He smiled reassuringly at the obviously very afraid bulldog whimpering softly. Grimacing under the weight, Iruka gently pushed the large canine off of his body, letting him lay on one side of the bed. Taking the initiative, he began petting Bulls head, whispering soothing words in his floppy ear. He pushed his head up against Iruka's hand, enjoying the feeling. Iruka had always wanted a dog as a kid, but his parents didn't think he would be responsible enough and they, as working shinobi, didn't have the time to take care of on themselves.

Soon Guruko and Uhei came bounding in as well, tails between their legs and shaking with fear of the thunderclaps that shook the house. Again Iruka found himself acting like a concerned parent, reassuring them with more soothing words and petting each of them gently. Within a few more rolls of booming thunder echoing throughout every room, Shiba, Bisuke and Urushi ran in, slipping and sliding on their paws on the hard wood flooring of the hallway in their hurry to find safety. Eventually, Akino and Pakkun flew onto Iruka's bed, most likely freaked out by both the thunder, and being the only two still in Naruto's room. Iruka chuckled at the 8 dogs huddled around him on his bed. He pushed himself up into a sitting position leaning against the headboard, and let the ninken snuggle around him tightly. Bull pushed his face into Iruka's legs, Pakkun slept on Bull's back, Akino and Bisuke snuggled under Iruka's arms, Shiba and Urushi burrowed under the covers and slept at the foot of the bed, Uhei leaned on Bull, and Guruko curled up on Iruka's lap. Sleep began to overtake all 8 ninken and one chuunin, the thunder now gently lulling them into a gentle slumber.

* * *

"Hey," Pakkun whispered. "Hey, you guys." Akino blearily opened one eye, and Uhei yawned loudly.

"Hey. Wake up. I wanna talk about something." He said impatiently, prodding Bull, Bisuke, and Guruko with his paw. Gradually, each dog woke up, yawning and stretching luxuriously.

"Whatcha wanna talk about?" asked a half-asleep Akino, who then began to scratch behind his ear. Everyone (except Iruka) perked up, all of them curious as to why Pakkun wanted to talk.

"So does everyone here like Iruka?" the little pug asked, beating to the punch.

"Yeah,"

"Arf!"

"Mmm-hmm"

"He's nice,"

"WOOF!"

"I like him"

"Ruff-ruff-arf,"

"Ok, so we all agree that Iruka's very nice for a human. I mean, he let us sleep with him in the storm." Pakkun said. 7 other dogs nodded in agreement. "Boss doesn't even let us do that!" Again, the other ninken nodded.

"So," he said. "I was wondering what would happen if Iruka and Boss _mated_."

"Hmmm…"

"Arf-arf-ruff-woof!"

"That might work,"

"Maybe Kakashi will be nicer!"

"RUFF!"

"Then we would see Iruka more!"

"Arf-arf-arf-ruff-arf!"

"That's what I was thinking too!" Pakkun said. "If we can somehow get them mated, Boss will be happy, Iruka will be happy, we'll be happy, and everyone's happy!" Everyone barked in agreement. They were all on the same page for once.

"So here's the plan..."

* * *

AAAAHHHH! I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS STORY! I'M NOT EXACTLY HOW THIS WILL GO OR WHERE THIS IS GOING BUT I'M DECENTLY HAPPY WITH IT! YAYAYAYAY!

Ok, enough of that. So I would super duper appreciate it if a few people would tell me what they thought! Flames are totally welcome! In fact, I need flames, otherwise I feel unsure about whether what I did was ok or not... :D So please help me out and maybe possibly drop a review!

Gosh darn, when i started this, I promised myself that I wouldn't ever beg for reviews... oh well

Anyhoooo, thanks so much to anyone that took the time to review the first chapter! I love you guys so so much! I never knew reviews made you feel so warm and gooey inside... I like it! SO, again, thanks a bunch! Oodles of love to ya!

Oh yeah, and I am totally open to suggestions on how this story should go! Actually, give me suggestions! I really am not sure how I want to go from here, and it would be nice to have some ideas from people that actually read my story! Yay!

Jeez, I also promised myself I would never write obnoxiously long author's note thingys... again, oh well

So I'll stop myself there.

Oodles of love to anyone and everyone that may read this,

チョッパーくん


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